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Recently, I was asked to speak at our high school chapel about the story of Christmas. It was a great privilege to do so, and it is one I never take lightly. I asked the Lord what He desired to communicate with the audience. One of the thoughts that came to me was, “why did God choose the shepherds and the wise men to tell them about the birth of His son?
Now there were in the same country shepherds living out in the fields, keeping watch over their flock by night. And behold, an angel of the Lord stood before them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were greatly afraid. Then the angel said to them, “Do not be afraid, for behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy which will be to all people. For there is born to you this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord. And this will be the sign to you: You will find a Babe wrapped in swaddling cloths, lying in a manger.”
And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God and saying:
“Glory to God in the highest,
And on earth peace, goodwill toward men!”
So it was, when the angels had gone away from them into heaven, that the shepherds said to one another, “Let us now go to Bethlehem and see this thing that has come to pass, which the Lord has made known to us.” And they came with haste and found Mary and Joseph, and the Babe lying in a manger. Now when they had seen Him, they made widely known the saying which was told them concerning this Child. And all those who heard it marveled at those things which were told them by the shepherds. Luke 2:8-18
The shepherds were doing their usual job when the angel met them. Once the angel announced the birth of Christ, they could have procrastinated and waited a while. They certainly had plenty of excuses not to go see the baby right away since they were out in the fields with their sheep, but the scripture tells us that they came in haste. Their spiritual hunger must have compelled them to go in haste and see Christ. They knew that they were not going to see just an ordinary baby! In simplicity of faith the shepherds believed that this vulnerable baby will some day be their savior!
How many times a group of shepherds would have ever been noticed out in the fields? Most likely not very often if ever. Nevertheless, God chose to speak to them. The shepherds would have been considered at the bottom of the totem pole of society in respect to social class, education, wealth, or status, but God is not a respecter of man. He chose them because of simplicity of their hearts and their openness to the truth.
The Lord chose the shepherds to be the first group of people to hear about the Good News. The shepherds in turn were faithful to share what they had seen and heard. They did not waste any time to tell others what God had so graciously chosen to share with them.
As we go about our days this week and this month, let’s be open to share the Good News of the gospel with anyone that God puts across our path regardless of their look, dress, zip code, or what they drive.
The final sign that Jesus gives His disciples concerning the end times is as follows:
And because lawlessness will abound, the love of many will grow cold. But he who endures to the end shall be saved. And this gospel of the kingdom will be preached in all the world as a witness to all the nations, and then the end will come. Matthew 24:12-13
Jesus warned about the season of lawlessness that will take over the world. The word “lawless” means contempt for law. We see some of this happen in our world right now. Some don’t want to follow the law because they think the government has unjust rules. Others don’t trust the government and don’t believe they should be obligated to follow the law. There are some who in the name of love want to throw away all restrictions and regulations.
One of those current examples of lawlessness is the illegal immigration issue. The President-elect plans to deport those illegal immigrants who have criminal records. Unfortunately, some states and cities want to stop this process and want to become a sanctuary place for those deported by the federal government. Please see below link that depicts this situation:
It is interesting that those who are willing to follow through with lawlessness, are doing it in the name of love and compassion. However, Jesus is telling us the opposite is true. He warns that when lawlessness comes, the love of many will grow cold. There will be no respect for law and no patience with the judicial system. Lawlessness will cause all sorts of fears and insecurities in people’s hearts. It will lead to self-preservation and taking justice into one’s own hands. Lawlessness for a society is a bleak picture.
One of the important lessons to learn from the these last few devotionals is that offense and lawlessness will lead people to hardened hearts and even hatred towards others. The encouragement for God’s people is that God’s laws are written on our hearts. We know what need to do. We are called to forgive offenses, so our hearts stays soft. We are called to not jump on the bandwagon of lawlessness in the name of love. This will help us endure to the end, and Jesus expects us to do so.
We will need great wisdom on how to fight injustice in the last days. In some cases the best fight could be to tell every person about Jesus. This will ensure that whether people live or die they will be ushered into the presence of the Lord one day. One thing a believer cannot lose, is their love for other people. We must guard our hearts or we will lose the desire to share the gospel with others.
Jesus provided additional signs that will usher the end of the age.
And then many will be offended, will betray one another, and will hate one another. Then many false prophets will rise up and deceive many. Matthew 24:10-11
Jesus predicted that many will be offended. The word “offense” in its Greek root means “bait”. The enemy uses an offense as a bait.
Jesus is speaking to His disciples about rampant growth of offenses at the end of the age. He knew that Christians are not immune to getting baited by offense. As a matter of fact, it appears that we can find many reasons to get offended. First, we have strong convictions about truth that open the door to offense towards anyone who does not see things our way. Second, we develop high expectations of those who are called Christians which leads to get ting offended by those who profess faith but their actions don’t match up with their words. Third, we get offended by those who see things differently politically because we think they want to harm our nation and take it in an ungodly direction. As a result, we have plenty of opportunities to get baited by offenses.
Jesus is showing us how the path of offense will lead us to betraying and hating one another. We need to be very careful not to get trapped by various offenses that lure us to denying or hating others.
It is easy to get distracted from the major points of the gospel and to create our own mini-version of gospel and the things we really care about. This can lead to all sorts of disagreements with others that will not matter at the end of the age.
Jesus then states that many false prophets will arise. How can offenses lead to the rise of false prophets? Generally people scatter after being offended. They walk away from relationships. They leave their congregation or their spiritual support, and this can lead them to fall prey to other voices and false teachings. In addition, when one has hatred in their hearts, it is easier to rebel against the established system. Their offense causes them to open themselves up to other voices and other inputs.
Therefore, we need to guard our hearts, forgive, and let go of offenses quickly.
I will continue with this subject in the next devotional and other signs that Jesus shared with His disciples.
Jesus shared another sign of the end times with his disciples. He stated:
“Then they will deliver you up to tribulation and kill you, and you will be hated by all nations for My name’s sake. Matthew 24:9
Nazarene (N in Arabic) refers to Christians. Most recently, this has been a symbol of solidarity for persecuted Christians in Iraq and Syria.
The name of Christ and following Him has not been popular for years. We see distaste and hatred towards Christianity around the world including in nations such as ours that were founded on Christian principles. Currently, Christians are being persecuted and slaughtered in some of the Communist and Muslim nations. There are 50 nations that deny access to the Bible. In addition, the recent ISIS crisis in the Middle East has brought about a genocide of Christians in parts of the Middle East.
Furthermore, Christians are accused of hate speech because they recite or teach a scripture that defines sin. In a secular and humanistic culture, there is no such a thing as sin. People have a right to do what they wish with minimal restraints, and those who speak out against them are labeled with some sort of phobia. This has a huge impact in the fields of education, business, psychology, political science, law enforcement, ministry, etc.
It is alarming that Jesus declared that a time is coming when all nations will hate Christians and will persecute them. I often have wondered about the eventual consequence of democracy. The very system that gave religious rights to individuals, can someday take those rights away because those who don’t honor God will be in majority.
While we thank God for our governing authorities and should pray for them regularly, we cannot lose sight of the fact that at the end of the age there will be no governmental protection for believers. We are to train believers for reliance on the Lord and looking unto Jesus for provision and protection during difficult times.
In New Testament era, shortly after the crucifixion of Jesus and the birth of the church, we see that Paul, Peter, and the other disciples were faced with opposition, persecution, and even death. Some Christians are experiencing them now around the world. Jesus prepared his disciples for the eventual persecution and hatred that was going to come their way. I have heard that some churches in China train people for arrest and persecution, so that in difficult times, people won’t buckle under pressure. Can our faith hold up in those kinds of times? Is the church teaching, preparing, and training people for this?
I will continue in the next devotional with more signs of the end times that Jesus gave his disciples.
While no one knows the day or the hour, Jesus someday will crack the sky and will return for His bride. The disciples were curious about the signs that would point to the end of the age. Jesus stated several signs that will usher the time of His return.
Now as He sat on the Mount of Olives, the disciples came to Him privately, saying, “Tell us, when will these things be? And what will be the sign of Your coming, and of the end of the age?” And Jesus answered and said to them: “Take heed that no one deceives you. For many will come in My name, saying, ‘I am the Christ,’ and will deceive many. Matthew 24:1-5
The first sign Jesus mentioned was deception. Jesus predicted that many will claim that they are either the Christ or the followers of Christ and will deceive many people. Since Jesus’ resurrection, many cults and false religions such as Islam, Jehovah Witnesses, and Mormonism have come along that have not totally refused Christ but have taught a subset of the teachings of the Bible. These teaching have brought confusion and deception about the nature of Christ and His work of on the cross.
Furthermore, people are more interested in their own opinions than the Truth. Personal opinions have caused individuals and denominations to determine the part of the Bible they agree with or the part they like to highlight. This leads to great deception. When one looks at the landscape of the church, multitudes of denominations have emerged due to disagreement with their former denominations, and people have split and moved into different directions professing they are the ones who see everything clearly and that others are misguided.
What should we do to avoid deception?
First of all, we need to know our Bible well and avoid being derailed from faith by half truths. We need to hold fast to the whole truth to avoid being deceived. Our focus should be what Jesus taught rather than what our favorite preacher or celebrity stated.
Secondly, we need to submit our opinion to the Truth rather than submitting the Truth to our opinions. We should allow God to deal with our opinions rather than trying to modify the Word of God to fit our needs. We are not called to change the gospel rather the gospel is meant to change us!
Thirdly, when faced with a different religion or cult, we should do our own homework to find out the core beliefs of a cult or religion. I am surprised by how some Christians just believe what the practitioners of certain faiths tell them about a religion rather than doing their own research.
We can develop knowledge in many areas including sports, Hollywood, and politics, but when it comes to understanding the ideologies of some of the prevalent religions, we depend on the followers of that faith to tell us what they want to tell us. Why is this important? If we don’t know what lies people have believed, it is harder for us to speak life into the areas of false doctrine and twisted truths. In addition, some of these ideologies will impact our society through education, media, politics, and business, and if we are not alert, we will passively allow it to influence our society and the next generation.
Jesus gave His disciples more signs. I will share about them in the next devotional.
Jesus did not come to the world to tolerate people but to set them free! He ate with tax collectors, was a friend to the sinners, and taught the religious. In all His interactions, He never compromised His mission. He did not give false comfort to the tax collector, the sinner, or the religious. If He had just tolerated them, they would have remained comfortable in their state with no need of repentance.
Jesus came to show the world that all their physical, emotional, and mental issues stemmed from the root of sin. Their separation from God had made them lame, blind, and rejected in a world that is alien to God’s truth. He put His finger right on their need and showed them that their hunger and thirst was for a relationship with God. He came to show humanity that this relationship was so important that He was willing to go to the cross, in order for people to be reconciled and restored to God.
The picture is from https://www.theodysseyonline.com/grace-and-truth-go-hand-in-hand
The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the one and only Son, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth. John 1:14
Jesus dwelt among us with fullness of truth and grace. Truth and grace are a beautiful balance of God’s love and His judgment evidenced by the cross. God loved us so much that He desired to save us from the sinful state and bring us back to a relationship with Him. Tolerance would have kept us at a distance from God with no hope of reconciliation only judgment at the end. Tolerance cannot erase truth but it can only avoid the issue for a time period.
Tolerance is like taking Tylenol for a headache but never addressing what is causing the headache in the first place. One may get away with it for while, but with more serious issues, the root cause need to be addressed. In those situations, Tylenol will only be masking the problem, and it is not a loving way to deal with the pain. People demand change of laws to institute tolerance. Sometimes the laws need to change in order to protect people, but the laws do not take way the root causes of sin, false identity, hatred, and prejudice.
Our faith is not meant to be downgraded to “tolerance”! The Lord has commissioned us to reach the lost and those in bondage. In order to truly reach them, they need to know their true condition before God, so they can be changed. If we are going to be effective, we cannot shy away from graciously telling people the truth. If they don’t know their true condition and God’s solution for it, how will they ever change?
Tolerance is one of the readily used terms in our society nowadays. It is generally used for behaviors that are different from a majority group or to squelch disagreements about a topic. The idea is that, in a pluralistic society, in order to keep unity, we should tolerate each other and not judge those who are different than us. Worldly tolerance does not require an internal change from either party but just a behavior modification to acquiesce to others’ views. This idea has also infiltrated the body of Christ as well.
The truth is that the scripture does not give us a mandate for tolerance. However, it teaches how to relate to one another appropriately.
with all lowliness and gentleness, with long suffering, bearing with one another in love. Ephesians 4:2
Paul tells the believers in Ephesus that in order to get along with others, one must have humility, gentleness, and patience. These character qualities, allow us to be long suffering when others may be weak and immature spiritually. We recognize that God has accepted them and is working on them. Therefore, we accept them on their process of growth with God.
It is actually reported that there is sexual immorality among you, and of a kind that even pagans do not tolerate: A man is sleeping with his father’s wife. And you are proud! Shouldn’t you rather have gone into mourning and have put out of your fellowship the man who has been doing this? For my part, even though I am not physically present, I am with you in spirit. As one who is present with you in this way, I have already passed judgment in the name of our Lord Jesus on the one who has been doing this. 1 Corinthians 5:1-3
In a sexual immorality case, Paul expected that the church take a stance by mourning and not allowing the individuals to continue to live in sin and still remain part of the church. It is interesting that Paul specifically tells us to mourn. When we are sad about someone’s sin, we are able to show love, concern, and acceptance without being harsh. The scripture is clear that we are not to tolerate overt sin and allow it to go on without holding people accountable. Correction is not contrary to accepting people. Because we love and accept people, we correct them by helping them not to be ensnared by sin.
Sometimes the body of Christ hesitates to hold people accountable in order to show tolerance and understanding. God has a standard for those who call themselves believers. It does not mean that Christians are perfect, but it does mean that Jesus’ bride is not called to live a lifestyle of sin.
I will continue with this subject in the next devotional.
This political season, has exposed a great vulnerability in the body of Christ as it relates to its stances on candidates and political issues.
Let’s not forget that the devil is always after separating people for one reason or another. His goal is to “steal, kill, and destroy”. Therefore, we cannot be surprised by his schemes, and we should not play into his hands by becoming an agent of division because God has called us to be an agent of reconciliation.
If we allow the political arena to divide the body of Christ, we have become carnal. All we can do is take personal responsibility for our choice and our vote. We should consider the issues from God’s point of view and find out what He cares about. This requires for us to remain neutral and seek God’s mind on these matters. I have family and friends who care very much about the issues of life and marriage that are supposed to be conservative stances. On the other hand, I have other family and friends who care very much about the poor, orphan, and the disadvantaged that are supposedly liberal stances. When I read my Bible, God cares about all those issues. Why do we need to care if it is a “left” or “right” stance? He calls us to defend the cause of the poor, and He also instructs us to speak for the voiceless.
Now then, we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God were pleading through us: we implore you on Christ’s behalf, be reconciled to God. 2Corinthians 5:20
We are called to be the ambassadors of peace and reconciliation. If we become divided because of our political views, how can we stop strife and unrest in society? What message do we have for the unbelievers whose stance is closer to us than our own brothers and sisters in Christ?
The nature of democracy is that we will not get our way most of the time, and it requires compromise. Democracy is intended to give a voice to everyone, but it does not mean that every person will get their way every time. There is a time for debate and disagreements, but once a decision is made, we should do our best to come together, reunite, and work for the benefit of the entire nation. At the end of the day, we are all Americans and should strive to do our best to see this nation become successful.
Let’s stop labeling each other because we disagree. If we make a point of trying to hear someone else’ view, it may give us a new perspective that we had not considered before. There are issues on the “left” and on the “right” that matter to God. We can work together on those issues and be stronger together. Let’s not allow the political parties to dictate what we should care about. In addition, we are not limited to work towards certain causes regardless of who comes into the office. We follow the voice of the Lord not the political voices!
Praise God that He is still on the throne and He uses His children on this earth as He sees fit. Let’s continue to keep our nation and our governmental leaders in prayer.
As you have already observed, our nation is experiencing uncertainty and division in the midst of the recent election. The data shows that people who voted were basically divided between Clinton and Trump with Clinton winning the popular vote and Trump winning the electoral college. However, there were 90 million registered voters who did not vote! This should concern all of us.
I had have meaningful conversations with many citizens who come from various age groups and backgrounds. I have also observed fiery posts on Facebook from the left and from the right. It’s a great privilege that we live in a nation where we can express our opinions freely and not fear punishment. However, I am surprised by how some Christians are handling this. Some believers’ tone and their choice of words certainly do not point to the fact that they are believers. We are called to be different.
For this is the will of God, that by doing good you may put to silence the ignorance of foolish men— as free, yet not using liberty as a cloak for vice, but as bondservants of God. 1Peter 2:15-16
First and foremost, while Constitutionally we have Freedom of Speech in this nation, Biblically we do not. The book of James is full of scriptures about our choice of words and how our tongue should be used for life not for death and destruction. While we have political freedom to speak freely, in Christ, we are not free. We are His servants representing His interests on the earth, and we are to only speak words that advance the Kingdom of God not tear down the body of Christ.
For He Himself is our peace, who has made both one, and has broken down the middle wall of separation, having abolished in His flesh the enmity, that is, the law of commandments contained in ordinances, so as to create in Himself one new man from the two, thus making peace, and that He might reconcile them both to God in one body through the cross, thereby putting to death the enmity. And He came and preached peace to you who were afar off and to those who were near. Ephesians 2:14-17
Secondly, Jesus does not give His allegiance to a political party or a denomination. He supersedes man-made organizations. God is not divided, and He is not taking sides with a political party. He cares about righteousness and justice. Each party may have certain issues that seem righteous and moral, but neither party is righteous and moral. As believers, we should not let political parties divide us. We should speak up about all the issues that God cares about regardless of which party has a better stance on that issue. We cannot allow a political party to define our values because any values represented by a party are a subset of what God cares about.
I will continue with this subject in the next devotional.
In the last devotional, I shared that Jesus asked those who desire to follow Him must deny themselves. Does Jesus expect us to deny everything? What are we not supposed to deny?
And Joshua said to all the people, “Behold, this stone shall be a witness to us, for it has heard all the words of the Lord which He spoke to us. It shall therefore be a witness to you, lest you deny your God.” Joshua 24:27
The Lord’s desire for us is to be courageous and not to deny Him. He instructed Joshua to create a memorial for the people, so the people will not forget Him and eventually deny Him. The scripture is a reminder of how easy people can forget about the Lord when they get comfortable. The Lord expects us not to deny Him in seasons of comfort and plenty.
Jesus said to him, “Assuredly, I say to you that this night, before the rooster crows, you will deny Me three times.” Matthew 26:34
In times of persecution/pressure, He expects us not to deny Him. We are to deny our fears. We are called to be bold in the midst of opposition. Peter denied Jesus in time of pressure. Praise God that this did not stop Jesus from loving Peter and restating His role in the Kingdom of God.
Some of us deny Him by our attitudes towards others. In the moment of passion, all we care about is to vent and get it off of our chest. However, after the fact, we realize that we did not represent Christ well in the midst of the battle. By staying calm, we deny ourselves in order not to deny Christ in that moment.
Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and comes down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shadow of turning. James 1:17
The Lord does not expect us to deny our gifting and calling. As a matter of fact, He expects us to steward everything He has given us and use them for His kingdom. He calls us to be generous by blessing others with our treasures, time, and talents. God has been generous towards us, and we be generous towards others.
Jesus gave the Great Commission to His disciples and to all of us. It takes much courage to handle rejection and reach others for Christ. He expects us to stand up for Truth and share His message with others. To do the things He has called us to do, will require denying ourselves and taking up our cross to follow Him.
